Keeping up with the charismatic Wernher von Braun was a high-speed chase

The Huntsville Times archivesBob Ward, former aerospace writer and editor of The Huntsville Times, is the author of "Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun."

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- As the aerospace reporter for The Huntsville Times in the booming 1960s, I had a number of memorable close encounters with Dr. Wernher von Braun.

I once flew from St. Louis back to Huntsville as one of just two passengers aboard a vintage, twin-engine air transport with von Braun at the controls. All went well with the flight. (An avid pilot, he had flown everything from gliders as a teenager in Germany to seaplanes in Alaska late in life.)

My first one-on-one interview with the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center director took place in headquarters Building 4200, then dubbed the "Von Braun Hilton," much to his chagrin. A public affairs officer escorting me to von Braun's office offered the use of a tape recorder. I declined, for reasons now lost to me.

The charismatic rocket engineer-scientist proceeded to talk 90 miles an hour as I vainly tried to get it all down in my notebook.

I missed half of what he said, including some highly newsworthy comments.

As soon as compact recorders became available, I purchased one and never made that mistake again.

Von Braun figured in a mid-1960s episode concerning a substantial story I wrote about an upcoming reorganization at Marshall.

Senior officials claimed I had violated an "understanding" that The Times would hold off on the story until employees had been briefed.

I knew of no such understanding. I had been quietly tipped off on the reorganization by an MSFC source.

The officials held discussions and wrote a memorandum outlining proposed retaliation against the paper and me personally. The measures included denying me access to Marshall employees by pulling my reporter's badge. Also, all MSFC news releases - and any NASA headquarters' releases affecting Marshall as well - were to be made after The Times' deadline so that our then-competitor, the morning Huntsville News, would get all the news first.

Von Braun wrote on his copy of the memo that he didn't think the news freeze against The Times would work because we were getting most of our MSFC and NASA news in advance through U.S. Sen. John Sparkman's office. That wasn't true, but it put a chill on the whole plan. None of the retaliatory measures were taken.

A copy of the memo with von Braun's comments was leaked to me years later by a Marshall source.

In researching an anecdotal "wit and wisdom" book on von Braun in the early 1970s (later published in Germany), I discovered a fascinating handwritten letter by him in the U.S. Space & Rocket Center archives. It was from the late 1940s, when von Braun and his German rocket team were based at Fort Bliss, Texas, and working also at nearby White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

In the letter von Braun complained at length to the Army major who was his military supervisor that he was often circumvented in the major's and others' dealings directly with his team members. He was the team's leader and expected to be informed first in such cases. Von Braun threatened to resign if matters were not resolved. He even recommended his successor.

I approached him during a return trip from his NASA post in Washington, D.C. I said I planned to write a story for The Times and wanted his comments. He tried to talk me out of it. I replied that it was a part of history and warranted publication. He replied, "But it's history that never happened."

After interviewing the former Army major to get his side of things, I wrote the story. It ran as a bylined piece on the editorial page.

Bob Ward held many writing and editing positions during more than 43 years at The Huntsville Times, including aerospace writer, managing editor, editor and assistant to the publisher. He is the author of "Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun."